Batgirl
Basically, we'll be frank on this one. Batman and Robin were starting to look pretty gay. And that sort of thing just isn't good for a superhero's image. Solution? Tasty crimefighting honey in spandex comes to Gotham City. Girls have a role model. Bruce and Dick can explore their true feelings in private. Everybody wins. Batgirls Bette Kane ]] The first Batgirl was Bette Kane. Sadly, she was created in the early 1960's, slightly before women were allowed to be useful. Her main purpose? Proving that Robin was into that sort of thing. Also, her aunt was Batwoman, but not the cool lesbian one who hangs out with Renee Montoya. Betty spent most of her time giggling around Robin and making light-hearted references to commitment, which were all rebuffed. (take the hint) Thankfully, the almighty High Priest of DC Comics tossed her, her aunt, Ace the Bat-Hound, and even Bat-Mite when he was making things much, much cooler. The Silver Age was a hard time on pretty much everybody. Several years after that when she had already been replaced by fresher stuff, to pretend that publication did not work that way, Betty joined the Teen Titans as Flamebird. Inevitably, she was forced to leave the team after infecting every single one of her teammates with virulent cooties. Barbara Gordon And yet, for some reason, girls still weren't reading comics. It was time for a new Batgirl. One with style, flair, and possibly if they had time, a relevant costume and motive that didn't involve an unhealthy libido. Barbara Gordon, also known as "Babsy" was Commissioner Gordon's daughter/niece, and a very successful librarian... with a mean streak a mile wide. And believe it or not, you just don't get as much ass-kicking in at the library as you used to. After a fight with Gotham's toughest underground boss... the Killer Moth... Batgirl believed herself to be ready to join the crusade against time. What took Batman many years of difficult training across the world could apparently be accomplished by her in a couple of months of Tae Kwon Do classes at the Y. She even got to meet the stunningly handsome Dick Grayson... meow. Unfortunately, it wasn't long until the Joker showed up. BANG and one trip to the hospital later, Batgirl lost the usage of her legs. Which actually... isn't funny, and it's horrible that we're continuing to write a comedic paragraph. Instead, she became Oracle, started the Birds of Prey, and now fights crime by sitting at her laptop all day and agreeing to look things up on Wikipedia, Google, or Fandango for heroes in need everywhere. Cassandra Cain And then came Cassandra Cain. The coolest of the cool. She can snap your neck five times before she's done snapping your neck the first four times. Raised by a borderline psychotic assassin and a bunch of his ninja buddies, she was so hardcore she didn't know how to speak, because she knew too much kung fu. But killing is wrong. It just is. And as cool as it sounds, robbing a young girl of her childhood so that you can teach her how to brutally murder people without remorse is not recommended by . When she wasn't getting into dramatic confrontations with Lady Shiva, Cassandra Cain mostly hung out with Tim Drake and Spoiler. She made them look stupid a lot. Eventually, her previously established lengthy characterization got boring, and she became evil for a little bit so she could do cool stuff like fight the Titans. But it was okay, because Deathstroke was TOTALLY drugging her at the time. She got better, and now she runs the Outsiders. External Links * * Batgirl at the DC Database Project * Batgirl at IMDB Category:Batman stuff Category:Female Category:Sidekicks Category:Things that make Dick Grayson giddy